NO QUICK FIX FOR METH USERS

Police departments, health-care professionals and substance abuse
counsellors are quick to agree that use of crystal methamphetamine in
Greater Victoria is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions.

But there's no quick fix when it comes treating the growing number of
people - especially youth - addicted to the drug.

Chris Goble, detox co-ordinator with the Victoria Youth Empowerment
Society, said the five detox beds for teenage addicts that his
organization operates are the only ones on Vancouver Island.

"We're it for the Island. We're the only withdrawal program for kids,"
Goble said.

While the number of youth with substance abuse problems hasn't changed
much since 2000, the proportion of youth addicted to crystal meth has
shifted dramatically in the last five years.

In 2000-01, just 11 per cent of YES clients were addicted to crystal
meth. That jumped to 33 per cent the following year and 61 per cent
2004-05.

During that time, YES has treated close to 900 teenagers with
substance abuse problems.

The demographics of meth use have also changed. Five years ago, 70 to
80 per cent of users were males with an average age of 17.7.

Goble said half of all addicts are now young girls and that the
average age has dropped to 16.3.

Goble said the change has complicated efforts to get kids off
drugs.

"A number of issues come up. One is the increase in mental health
issues - paranoia, meth-induced psychosis and hallucinations," he said.

"When you have co-occurring disorders, it increases case management
time, it increases co-ordination with regard to referrals and there's
a high recidivism rate because people are unable or unwilling to
commit to treatment."

Former Weekend Edition reporter Matthew Ramsey, who recently wrote a
multi-part series on the drug, said opening more detox beds is
essential if authorities are to effectively tackle the province's
growing crystal meth problem.

"More rehab beds - that's the long and short of it. We need more
places to get people off of this stuff," he said.

The series notes that, as of 2003, 11 per cent of all admissions to
community-addictions services in B.C. were for meth misuse, up from
four per cent in 1999.

According to coroners' statistics, crystal meth was found in the
bodies of 33 people in B.C. last year, more than double the number in
2003.

Ramsey, who now works for the Vancouver Province, will be among the
panelists at a forum on the subject that is scheduled to take place
Monday at Oak Bay high school.

The forum will include a screening of Death By Jib, a disturbing
18-minute film co-produced by Kevin Letourneau of Peace Arch Community
Services and Coquitlam filmmaker Michael Neitzel, who also produced
Wrath of the Dragon, a 1999 film about the stark realities of heroin
addiction.

Vancouver Island Health Authority spokesperson Karin Heimlich said
this week that health officials are working on a strategy to deal with
youth addiction.

"We're doing an Island-wide review of youth addictions and obviously
meth is a key concern in that review," Heimlich said. "It's difficult
to resource the problem because it's so vast."

Crystal meth treatment is complicated by the fact that existing
facilities are so-called "medical detox beds," geared toward alcohol,
heroin and cocaine addiction.

"Most of the priority population that would normally get a medical
detox bed are those people who would be at risk of medical
complications when detoxing," she said.

"Crystal meth does not require an acute-care bed. They're not the
priority client for those beds."

Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill said this week that the crystal
meth outbreak is "probably leading to more knifepoint assaults during
robberies."

But rather than treating people who are already addicted, Battershill
said police are hoping to stop addiction before it starts.

"The biggest issue is public education and prevention. People have to
know that use of that particular drug is going to screw you up,"
Battershill said.

Monday's forum at Oak Bay high gets under way at 7 p.m. Admission is
free.